Apparatus for punching the uppers of footwear to obtain the holes for the laces



1962 A. BOCCA ET Al. 3,057,242

APPARATUS FOR PUNCHING THE UPPERS 0F FOOTWEAR TO OBTAIN THE HOLES FOR THE LACES Filed Oct. '7, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet l Eureh/Ers berto Ba avq ario Pagaml Oct. 9, 1962 A. BoccA ET A}. 7 3,057,242

APPARATUS FOR PUNCHING THE UPPERS OF FOOTWEAR TO OBTAIN THE HOLES FOR THE LACES 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 7, 1958 77 ken/a r-s /bar/E, @oeu 1962 A. BoccA ET Al. 3,057,242

APPARATUS FOR PUNCHING THE UPPERS OF FOOTWEAR TO OBTAIN THE HOLES FOR THE LACES Filed Oct. 7, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Inverhws A Huerta Beebe.

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United States Patent Ofifice 3,057,242 Patented Oct. 9, 1962 3,057,242 APPARATUS FOR PUNCHING THE UPPERS F FOOTWEAR TO OBTAIN THE HOLES FOR THE LACES Alberto Becca, Via S. Maria 23, and Mario Pagani, Via Pergoiesi 22, both of Vigevano, Italy Filed Oct. 7, 1958, Ser. No. 765,850 Claims priority, application Italy Oct. 9, 1957 7 (Jlaims. (Cl. 83559) The present invention concerns an apparatus for punching the uppers of footwear to provide holes for the laces therein.

It is known that at present the punching of the uppers of footwear to provide holes for laces therein is carried out individually for every hole by means of one single punch, or by means of a hollow punch carrying as many hollows as are the holes to be made, said individual punching hollows of the set being arranged in spaced relationship with one another and in the arrangement required by the position of the individual holes to be made in the upper.

It is also known that said spacing or arrangement of the holes varies according to the kind of upper, whence there is required a considerable number of punches to fit the various kinds of uppers.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus by means of which by an easy operation of adaptation it is possible to arrange in a semi-automatic manner the punches in the position required 'by the individual types of uppers.

It is in particular an object of the invention provide an apparatus for the punching of uppers for footwear with holes for the laces, characterized in that it comprises essentially a supporting base; at least one lever fulcrumed to turn on said base about an axis perpendicular to said base; a plurality of arms each carrying at one end a punch-carrying frame, each tied by means of a rod pivoted to the aforesaid lever, the rods being pivoted to the lever on axes parallel to the fulcruming axis of said lever at progressively growing distances from said fulcruming axis and fulcrumed at an intermediate point on the base in a manner to be freely slidable in their longitudinal direction along axes normal to the base and placed at progressively growing distances from the respective punch-frame-carrying end and from the longitudinal plane passing through the fulcrum of the aforesaid lever; and means causing the ends of the arms opposed to the ends carrying the punch-carrying frames to be moved by translatory movement for equal displacements in such a manner as to rotate said arms about their own fulcra, thereby taking said ends close to each other or away from each other, said punch-carrying frame carrying ends being positionable longitudinally archwise by means of said lever.

To make the invention more fully clear, reference will be made hereinafter to a preferred embodiment thereof which is illustrated diagrammatically merely by way of example in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 represents the instant apparatus in plan view;

FIG. 2 represents in a larger scale the same apparatus in elevational View and section taken along a longitudinal plane;

FIG. 3 represents in a smaller scale a diagrammatical view of the apparatus being a side view and FIG. 4 represents a detail.

With reference to those figures, it will be noted that the apparatus represented comprises essentially a base (support) 1 provided with two side shoulders 2-2 parallel to each other; two levers 3-3, each fulcrumed with one of their ends to be freely rotatable on said base 1 by means of one single pivot 4 having its axis norm-a1 to said base and said levers projecting laterally with their other ends from the lateral shoulders 2-2 respectively through the slots 55' provided in said lateral shoulders 2--2; and two sets of arms respectively indicated with 67-8 and 6- 8'.

Said arms are carried by the base 1 by way of the trans Verse shafts 9-10-11.

Each of said arms is pivoted at an intermediate point thereof by means of a pivot 12 passing through an eyelet 13 of said arm and screwed into a small block 14 fitted onto and adjustable along the corresponding supporting shaft. At 15 is indicated a bushing fitted to be freely r0- tatable 0n the extension 14 of the small block 14, which bushing has its external side surfaces flattened along two parallel planes 16 forming guide seats for the corresponding arm, being engaged in the eyelet of said arm (see FIG. 4).

Between the head 'of the pivot 12 and the corresponding arm there is provided a pressure spring 17 and a washer 18 resting upon said arm, while the stem of said pivot extends clampingly against the corresponding supporting shaft which has a flattened plane matching seat.

One of the ends of each of said arms is tied by means of the combination of a pivot 32 and an eyelet 33 to a small block 19 having a clamp fixed by means of a locking screw 20 to a corresponding bushing 21 or 21 respectively.

The bushings 21 and 21 are provided with internal threads and are slidably and non-rotatably supported for axial movement in the respective shoulders 2, 2 of the supporting base 1. Said internal threads are of 0pposite hand.

At 22 is indicated a worm-screw having two threaded sections 22 and 22" with contrary threads (right-hand and left-hand), cooperating respectively with the aforesaid bushings or female screw-nuts 21 and 21. Rotation of screw 22 in one direction simultaneously moves the bushings 21 and 21 (and the groups of blocks 19 clamped thereon) away from each other, whereas, rotation of screw 22 in the opposite direction moves the bushings 21 and 21 (and the groups of blocks 19 clamped thereon) toward each other.

Said worm-screw is supported to rotate freely but restrained against sliding axially by a bearing support 23 fixed to the base 1.

To one end of said worm-screw 22, externally with respect to the shoulder 2 of the base 1, there is fitted a bevel gear 24 meshing with a corresponding bevel gear 25 fitted at the end of a shaft 26 supported by a support 27 fixed to the aforesaid shoulder 2. At 28 is indicated a housing or hood for protecting said bevel gear pair, fixed to the support 27 and to the shoulder 2 by means of screws respectively indicated at 29 and 30.

The end opposed to that in which is fitted the bevel gear 25 of the shaft 26, projects from the housing 28 and carries a handle 31 fitted thereto.

To the free end of each arm there is secured in an interchangeable manner by means of a clamping screw 34 a frame 35 carrying a punch 36 slidable resiliently in an axial direction by the effect of a biasing spring 37 the elastic action of which is adjustable by means of an abutment collar 38 adapted to be fixed along the length of the said punch in a desired position by means of the set screw 39. One of said punch-carrying frames is carried fixedly by the base 1 in a position intermediate with respect to the two sets carried by the arms.

At 40 is indicated an adjustable abutment screw adapted to determine the section of the upper running between the border and the position at which the holes for the laces should be punched. At 41 is indicated a twosegment rod pivotally connected at its opposite ends respectively, by means of the pin 42 and the spacer bushing 43 to a corresponding arm and with the screw 44 to the lever 3 or 3'. A rod 41 is provided for each arm. The points of connection of the individual rods 41 to the levers 3 and 3' are arranged at distances progressively increasing from the fulcrum-axis of said levers. The length of each rod is adjustable by means of a turnbuckle coupling 45' threaded on the rod segments with right-hand and left-hand threads with respective lock nuts 46.

The apparatus hereinabove described is mounted on a framing 47 of the kind shown for instance in FIG. 3, with punches 36 arranged below a presser 48 actuated mechanically, hydraulically or by any other known means.

The adjustment of the distances with respect to one another, of the punch-carrying frames and their position along an arc-line in relationship with the kind of upper to be punched with lace-holes, is efiected by successively or simultaneously operating the handle 31 and upon the levers 3 and 3' (see FIG. 1).

On having effected the positioning of the punches in accordance with the arrangement of the holes to be made in the upper and on having adjusted the abutments 40 which determines the distance of said holes from the corresponding border of the opening of the footwear, the presser 48 is made to descend in the manner previously stated, which presser will simultaneously actuate all the punches 36 thereby making all the holes by one single operation.

The presser 48 acts upon the punches 36 by means of a piece 49 which is transversely movable on the presser in order to actuate a more or less great number of punches according to the number of holes to be made.

Obviously the embodiment hereinbefore described is merely by way of example and, therefore, the apparatus may be modified to provide any variants that practice may suggest, within the scope of the present invention as claimed.

We claim:

1. An apparatus for the punching of uppers for footwear to provide holes therein for laces, said apparatus comprising a supporting base, a plurality of carrier arms overlying said base, each of said carrier arms carrying a punch-carrying frame at a first end thereof, a pivot for each of said carrier arms projecting upwardly from said base, means providing a longitudinal and sliding pivoting connection between each carrier arms and a respective pivot, each of said connections being disposed a difierent distance from the first end of its respective carrier arm, transversely movable shift means on said base, means pivotally and longitudinally slidably connecting the second ends of said carrier arms to said shift means, whereby movement of said shift means produces difierent amounts of transverse movement of said first ends, a lever, an upstanding pivot on said base pivotally mounting said lever, and a plurality of rods having first ends pivotally connected to said lever at difierent distances from said lever pivot and second ends pivotally connected to respective ones of said carrier arms, whereby pivoting of said lever moves said carrier arms difierent distances generally longitudinally of said carrier arms.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said rods are adjustable in length.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the carrier arm first end having a maximum transverse movement has a maximum longitudinal movement and the carrier arm first end having a minimum transverse movement has a minimum longitudinal movement.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the shift means includes a feed screw and feed nuts threaded on said feed screw for movement in response to rotation of said feed screw, there being one feed nut for each of said carrier arms and forming part of a respective one of said carrier arm second ends.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said rods are adjustable in length.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the carrier arm first end having a maximum transverse movement has a maximum longitudinal movement and the carrier arm first end having a minimum transverse movement has a minimum longitudinal movement.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of said longitudinal sliding and pivoting connections includes an elongated eyelet formed in a respective carrier arm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 613,840 Lord Nov. 8, 1898 653,139 Green July 3, 1900 663,389 Nutter Dec. 4, 1900 665,358 Adams Jan. 1, 1901 1,012,052 Barna Dec. 19, 1911 1,191,965 Hamann July 25, 1916 1,522,533 Newman et al Jan. 13, 1925 2,118,110 Rosenberg May 24, 1938 2,213,586 Knight Sept. 3, 1940 2,323,431 Wales July 6, 1943 

